Posted by Josh SeidemanncloseAuthor: Josh SeidemannName: Josh SeidemannEmail: JSeidemann@ntca.orgSite:http://www.ntca.orgAbout: Joshua Seidemann is NTCA’s Vice President of Policy and contributes frequently to the New Edge. He has previously written for video and cellular trade press, and usually avoids disclosing that he is a lawyer.See Authors Posts (177) on Tuesday, April 29, 2014 · ·

Netflix Inc. has reached an agreement with Verizon Communications Inc. for connections that will enable improved performance for the video content provider, media outlets reported this morning; Netflix and Comcast reached a similar agreement several months ago. Netflix data reflected better service for Comcast customers following consummation of that agreement.

Posted by Josh SeidemanncloseAuthor: Josh SeidemannName: Josh SeidemannEmail: JSeidemann@ntca.orgSite:http://www.ntca.orgAbout: Joshua Seidemann is NTCA’s Vice President of Policy and contributes frequently to the New Edge. He has previously written for video and cellular trade press, and usually avoids disclosing that he is a lawyer.See Authors Posts (177) on Monday, April 14, 2014 · ·

There is a “thing” going around the Internet these days that is intended to illuminate aspects of reading ability. The “thing” (I am not sure what to call it) is a paragraph of horribly misspelled text, but with each word containing the approximate number of correct letters, and the correct first and last letters of each word. The “thing” attempts to demonstrate that the mind reads words as images, and that so long as the borders are correct, the brain fills in the blanks and providers the proper words.

I was not really surprised that I could read the paragraph, since my brain has a funny way of transposing letters and numbers and tricking me into reading things that actually don’t exist. Like the sign that encouraged people to “club and gutter” their pets (it really said, “curb and gutter” in an attempt to maintain clean sidewalks). Or phone numbers that are perpetually out of order – mostly because I have flipped some of the numbers and am calling people or places that don’t exist. Read more

Posted by Josh SeidemanncloseAuthor: Josh SeidemannName: Josh SeidemannEmail: JSeidemann@ntca.orgSite:http://www.ntca.orgAbout: Joshua Seidemann is NTCA’s Vice President of Policy and contributes frequently to the New Edge. He has previously written for video and cellular trade press, and usually avoids disclosing that he is a lawyer.See Authors Posts (177) on Tuesday, February 18, 2014 · ·

Of all the do-it-yourself (DIY) projects I’ll tackle in the house, electricity and plumbing are off the table. With regard to the former, I like electricity — a lot — but have a healthy respect for 120 volts and a rudimentary understanding of my own limits. Likewise, plumbing is something where the risk of error is exponentially greater than that I might encounter in, say, hanging a door. The worst I can do there is hang it out of plumb, which results mostly in shooting yet another afternoon trying to correct it. By contrast, even the most minor of a plumbing error can wreak untold (and, possibly, unnoticed-until-it’s-too-late) damage.

Home security might be a third one to add to the list. Now, to be sure, I have never attempted it, though I did work with my installer to devise an utterly ridiculously redundant system (at one point, he raised an eyebrow and said, “Mister, if someone wants to get you badly enough, there’s nothing I can do; we’re just trying to send the run-of-the-mill guys next door”). But, until recently, Verizon offered a service whereby users could pay a nominal fee and control their doors and windows and locks and lights remotely. Except now Verizon has discontinued the offering. Which of course begs the question, why I am writing about something that you can no longer buy? Read more

Posted by Brian FordcloseAuthor: Brian FordName: Brian FordEmail: bford@ntca.orgSite:http://www.ntca.orgAbout: Brian Ford is Regulatory Counsel with NTCA, where he writes comments for submission to the FCC on a number of regulatory issues important to RLECs. He joined NTCA March 1, 2013, after eight glorious years at OPASTCO, where he was also Regulatory Counsel and was acknowledged by his peers as the most intelligent and best dressed member of the staff. He enjoys watching the Detroit Tigers, cries while watching the Detroit Lions (they’re awful), has no idea what is going on when watching the Detroit Red Wings (still trying to figure out hockey), and turns off the Detroit Pistons because he has far too much work to do on behalf of NTCA members.See Authors Posts (90) on Wednesday, February 12, 2014 · ·

It was pretty much inevitable that in the wake of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals decision striking down most of the FCC’s Open Internet (a.k.a. Net Neutrality) rules that accusations would begin flying around that broadband providers are throttling traffic. This week, the first accusation surfaced, which was vehemently disputed by the alleged perpetrator.

Specifically, a blogger claims that Verizon has been throttling Amazon Web Services (AWS, Amazon’s cloud services product) and Netflix. The accusation stemmed from the blogger (and his boss) experiencing a slowdown in their Verizon FiOS Internet service both at work and at home. You can read his blog linked above for more specifics on his allegations, and his speed and other tests conducted in connection with his accusation of traffic throttling. He also has a screenshot of an online chat with a Verizon customer service representative that he claims further supports the accusation that Verizon is limiting bandwidth to AWS and Netflix. As this article notes, however, this last piece of evidence is not necessarily reliable: it’s not as though a customer service representative is the person who will know whether Verizon has made such a serious decision as to throttle traffic and is authorized to let the world know about it via an online chat. Read more

Posted by Josh SeidemanncloseAuthor: Josh SeidemannName: Josh SeidemannEmail: JSeidemann@ntca.orgSite:http://www.ntca.orgAbout: Joshua Seidemann is NTCA’s Vice President of Policy and contributes frequently to the New Edge. He has previously written for video and cellular trade press, and usually avoids disclosing that he is a lawyer.See Authors Posts (177) on Monday, November 25, 2013 · ·

I missed an opportunity last week to mark my 100th post to the New Edge with something spectacular. Instead, I wrote about cloud computing.

But since this post commences my “second hundred” I’ll reach back to my high school days to illustrate a conundrum that faces consumers as society becomes more deeply entrenched in the “Internet of things.”

Rumor has it that a wealthy donor once approached my high school and offered to underwrite the construction of a swimming pool. Concerned about liability issues, the school declined. When the donor persisted and asked why locking the building after hours would not suffice, the administration, aware of its students’ proclivity for surmounting security measures, replied, “In our school, there is no such thing as a ‘lock’” (I won’t share the details here, but I once participated in an effort that rivaled Spy vs. Spy in a quest to obtain a ring of keys). Read more

Posted by Josh SeidemanncloseAuthor: Josh SeidemannName: Josh SeidemannEmail: JSeidemann@ntca.orgSite:http://www.ntca.orgAbout: Joshua Seidemann is NTCA’s Vice President of Policy and contributes frequently to the New Edge. He has previously written for video and cellular trade press, and usually avoids disclosing that he is a lawyer.See Authors Posts (177) on Friday, November 15, 2013 · ·

Anyone who is keeping count may have noticed that I am linking to a lot of Wall Street Journal articles lately. That is because I spent some expiring frequent flier miles on a subscription. When it runs out, I might revert to citing Sports Illustrated Kids.

Last Wednesday’s Journal featured an article titled, “Meet the Man Who Really Runs the Internet” (for now, we’ll give the Al Gore jokes a rest). The half-page interview featured Andy Jassy, head of Amazon’s Web Services (AWS) division, which sells computing power and cloud services. AWS recently landed a $600 million contract with the CIA, and while Jassy would not disclose how that amount compares to the total volume of AWS sales, he noted that it certainly enhanced the credibility of cloud services, generally.

Some market analysts estimate that the AWS is ringing up about $4 billion in annual sales; Jassy did not dispute reports of his predictions that the cloud division could one day eclipse Amazon’s $60 billion retail business. IBM, Microsoft, and Google are also jumping on the cloud bandwagon, indicating the potential for exponential growth of this sector. Read more

Posted by Steve PastorkovichcloseAuthor: Steve PastorkovichName: Steve PastorkovichEmail: spastorkovich@ntca.orgSite:http://www.ntca.orgAbout: Steve Pastorkovich is NTCA’s Associate Director of Technology and Business Development. Previously, he spent over 15 years at OPASTCO working on legislative, regulatory and business development issues. His Washington, D.C., career began on political campaigns, and he has been engaged in public policy for more than 25 years. He is an unabashed role player and computer gamer (although he rarely has the time anymore), and remains inordinately proud of the fact that he learned how to manipulate computer memory in DOS in order to make the original Dragon Lore operate.See Authors Posts (60) on Monday, November 4, 2013 · ·

Intel’s efforts to break into the over-the-top video market with its own product may be fading away. Reports surfaced last week that Verizon was in talks to acquire all or part of Intel’s OTT operation. This kind of development is not surprising, as there were doubts about Intel’s ability to obtain sufficient content, and rumors circulated that Intel was talking not only to Verizon, but also to companies like Samsung and Amazon.

Verizon’s interest in the Intel product makes sense, as its OTT-kiosk combination service, Redbox Instant, went live earlier this spring. Verizon’s combination of content, broadband infrastructure and rental kiosks give it what are perhaps some unique advantages in the tough video OTT space. According to one report, Verizon and Outerwall (formerly known as Coinstar), its partner in the Redbox Instant project, plan to increase brand awareness efforts to the Redbox Instant service in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Meanwhile, Amazon, which had also been rumored to be in talks with Intel, has reportedly pushed back the release date of its planned OTT box, possibly past the holiday season and into 2014. Given the Amazon Prime video OTT service and the popularity of Amazon’s Kindle e-reader, which is increasingly evolving into a media player, Amazon is also poised to enhance its position in the OTT market. The exact impacts of the Intel deal will likely be better understood before the end of the year.